This is a transhipment arm where coal was loaded from a light tramway or 'ginny track' on to barges. A Blackburn company, Crook and Thompson Ltd, carried coal from the Bank Hall colliery to the Whitebirk power station in Blackburn. There is also a dry dock near here which was used to repair the coal carrying barges. Before the coal mining there was a boatyard here known as Birley's Dock named after a Boat Builder John Birley of the early to mid 1800s.